c. 2005 Religion News Service

PISCATAWAY, N.J. _ For three hours a day, every day for four years, young Asahn Kadeer has practiced memorizing the Quran, its curvy Arabic letters, dots and slanted dashes dancing in his head.

When not immersed in class work, PlayStation 2 or watching the Philadelphia 76ers, the 14-year-old learned to recite all 114 chapters, or surahs, of Islam’s sacred book, mastering the precise inflections of the words.

During Ramadan, which began Oct. 4, the teen stands up before more than 50 Muslims at the Dar-Ul Islam mosque in Elizabeth and recites one part of the Quran each night of the Islamic holy month.

Asahn’s accomplishment is rare in America, where there are few native Quran reciters; so few, that many mosques have to pay each Ramadan to host reciters _ known as hafiz _ from another country.

The shortage makes Asahn in demand with area imams. He continues to work hard, though, practicing each night so the words don’t slip from his memory, and to improve his command.

“I read too fast, which I shouldn’t,” Asahn said, assessing his abilities on a break from memorization class at An-Noor Academy, an Islamic school in Piscataway. “I read low, I don’t read that loud. … Sometimes I feel like I think I’m going to have some mistakes, or I feel like, `I’m going to miss this word.”’

Muslim leaders in New Jersey who know Asahn, however, are thrilled with his aptitude, and say young people like him who can recite the Quran signal a coming maturity for the American Muslim community.

“There has been less and less emphasis, especially in the Western countries, on memorization as a means of learning, but throughout the Muslim world it is still very strong,” said Imam Raouf Zaman of the Muslim Center of Middlesex County, which is associated with An-Noor. “I think personally it is an important tool for learning.”

In predominantly Muslim countries, most people who know the Quran by heart began learning it as children, imams say. The tradition of hafiz began in the early days of Islam, when written copies of the Quran were scarce. The religion was under constant threat, making the hafiz essential to its preservation. A hafiz is accorded certain privileges within his community as well, it is taught, as in the hereafter.

More American Muslim children are trying to memorize the Quran. In Lawrenceville, Ga., a 6-year-old boy was honored by his mosque in July for memorizing it, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Asahn’s school is among just a few in New Jersey that teaches memorization of the Quran. The program is 3 years old, and about 30 of An-Noor’s 195 students opt to take it, said Sheikh Ahmad Salem, the principal.

Memorizing the entire Quran, more than 400 pages, usually takes students three or four years, Salem said.

It is an important feat, he said, because “we need to keep the Quran saved in the hearts. On Ramadan we are (supposed) to read from the heart, not read from the book.”

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The course at An-Noor Academy takes up three 40-minute class periods a day. Besides reading aloud, the students are tested to fill in missing verses of text.

The Quran’s 114 chapters are organized by length, from longest to shortest. During Ramadan, the book is typically divided into 30 parts, one of which is recited each night in mosques after other prayers, and after Muslims have completed their daily fasts.

At An-Noor, where most students are of South Asian background, children typically memorize at different paces depending on their knowledge at the outset. The school’s lessons assume no Arabic background, as most students know very little of it when the classes begin, Salem said.

The principal’s son, 12-year-old Muhammad Salem, does know Arabic, and began learning to memorize the Quran on his own before his classes began three years ago.

“In the beginning it was hard. I started with the little surahs before I came to school,” Muhammad said. “When I started to get used to it, it started getting easier.”

This year for Ramadan, Muhammad will recite with his brother, Islam, 11, at Alghuraba mosque in Plainfield.

Asahn, who is of Pakistani descent and knows little Arabic except for what is in the Quran, began learning to recite about four years ago after seeing friends do it.

“I was proud,” said his father, Azam Kadeer, “that God had put something in his heart to realize the value … of memorizing the book.”

MO/JL DIAMANT

(Jeff Diamant covers religion at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)